In His Command by Rie Warren

Title: In His Command
Author: Rie Warren
Published by Grand Central/Hachette
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Claire Brown
Genre: dystopian
Length: 97k words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print

In the dystopian future, two men discover attraction isn't just dangerous, it's deadly.

Two generations ago, the world was annihilated by a series of catastrophic environmental events. The remaining survivors were driven closer and closer to big city centers-damaged but not destroyed-divvied into sixteen identical international territories ruled by the Company.

Oppressive to the core, the Company has one rule in order to recoup the world's devastated population: homosexuality and deviant sexual behaviors are hanging offenses. First time offenders are last-time offenders.

It is the year 2070. Commander Caspar Cannon has a stellar military reputation-and a life-threatening secret. When a revolution rips through the territories, Cannon is ordered to escort Company Executive Nathaniel Rice to a secure location. Leaving the besieged city behind, their journey becomes a minefield of sabotage, betrayal, secrets . . . and intense desire for one another.

Cannon's militant self-repression takes a direct hit, his suspicions warring with passion for a man who can never be his, not while the Company remains in power. True to his mission, he delivers Nathaniel to the safe bunker where a fate he never expected awaits him.


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I seem to be reading this series out of order: this is the first, and I started with In His Sights (review here)  which I enjoyed enough to come back for a second helping.

Here we have a couple of alpha males, on opposing sides of a very wide gap. Nathaniel is a Company man with a more convoluted path than his military lover and escort Caspar can imagine. In this world, the population has been depleted by war and by plague, creating a very stratified society where the major goal is to repopulate the world. If you can stomach the nonsensical worldbuilding of Divergent, you can probably buy into the Company, their complete intolerance for homosexuality, for people who don’t toe their lines, and the carnage that follows on from it. For a society that wishes to expand their numbers, they do kill off more than they breed.


Resistance is inevitable, and Nathaniel, a Company mucky-muck in IT, needs to be evacuated to a safe compound nearly 500 miles distant from the city, through what seems to be mostly wilderness, as 90% of the urbanization has disappeared between now and 2070. Tying down the date so tightly introduces reality, which doesn’t promote the suspension of disbelief this story requires. One has to take Nathaniel’s attraction to and feelings for Caspar as a given as well, because some sideways glances and a blowjob do not a relationship make.

Swallow the set-up as a bitter pill though, and get to the adventure, as they make their way to the compound in the north, which is punctuated by multiple sex scenes, most of which can be skimmed without losing anything, although I did almost blow by one that mattered to the plot and had to go back and read in detail.

The author does do a fine job of keeping her characters off balance, introducing twists and turns that distort the fragile trust they have in one another. Some of this is brutal reading, but it makes sense, and is one of the finest aspects of the book. Simple goals become complex goals, and then become as simple as “stay alive” again. In the course of this I did believe in the relationship, as Caspar had to go from bare physical attraction to love, via distrust and sometimes despair. Nathaniel’s path to Caspar is simpler, though he has to navigate all the reasons for distrust and overcome them.

The style is simple and gritty, we’re inside the head of a career soldier on the battlefield, which makes the frequent endearments Nathaniel uses kind of ludicrous, and only when he spoke them ironically did I not flinch. YMMV.

I would have been perfectly content with a brief epilog after Chapter 18, but the ending abandoned the alpha male adventure and descended into flowery romantic territory where I came close to throwing my Kindle. I was moderately prepared for it after having read the novella, but didn’t like it any better the second time. The book seems to be trying to be all things to all people, which comes across as serious breaks in characterization. Really, it’s okay to have alpha men be alpha men and express the more tender side while staying in character. And seriously, men, particularly in situations of danger or while wounded, can think with their big heads.

I am embarrassed to admit how much of this book I had to skim: I *never* skim, but the incessant sex scenes strung together with a few pages of plot, and then the smooptastic ending required some “reader editing” or the book would have been a DNF. There is some very good stuff in here, particularly after they arrive at the compound, but it has to be picked out.

Don’t show me the peen unless it advances the plot. 3 marbles

In His Sights by Rie Warren

These sworn enemies have everything to lose and each other to live for.

At the outset of the Revolution against the oppressive Company regime, Hawke is a freedom fighter on a mission. Infiltrate Alpha Territory, kick some Corps ass, and stay alive. His plans unravel when he’s captured by the enemy on his first sortie. Waiting for death by the soldier sworn to kill him, all his training couldn’t have prepared him for what happens next.

A corporal in the Company’s military branch, Mayce is a hard-liner intent on ridding his city of the insurgent threat. Yet one look at the gorgeous Freelander named Hawke and years of yearning and unrealized desires change his course permanently. If discovered, he’ll be branded a traitor and a homosexual—and sentenced to death.

Mayce and Hawke act on their intense and immediate attraction. But amid the escalating war their dangerous trysts come at the risk of their own lives.

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This novella is a taste of a larger universe, though it stands alone. If you have a taste for military, dystopian literature, with sex, this should satisfy. There’s sex. Lots and lots of sex, and in the interstices of the sex scenes, there’s some pulse pounding military action in a dystopian future. The novel length works in this universe would probably be a better place to really see the world-building, because in this novella, there’s mostly sex.

Did I mention there’s sex? There is. Going from hot, “we’re enemies but we need to fuck” sex, to “I love you and can’t keep my hands off you” sex, and almost every permutation in between. Mayce and Hawke are equals in their alpha maleness and versatile in what they’ll do together. Their initial encounter is “kill him or tap him?” and goes on from there. It’s hot, even if it’s abrupt and requires some suspension of disbelief, so I turned my porn brain on and the problem disappeared. It’s a meeting of equals, and the affection that grows is a function of desperation: they’re fighting a really stupid war and they both know it.

A number of elements would logically follow from the premise of the world situation, but they are either contradicted or ignored. There is a plot and some tension in there, which I liked a lot, worked out in a way that is consistent with world situation. The resolution to the love interest felt kind of tacked on, like something thrown in to satisfy other sensibilities, but it, like the logic behind the military aspects, is pretty much lost in the sex. 

If you’re reading for the sex, it’s great, and if you’re reading for the science fiction/military aspects, it has good action with some odd world-building, so best to think of this as SF-flavored erotic romance. Overall it’s entertaining and written in a fluid style. 3.5 marbles

A Thousand Word Thursday Excerpt from Rie Warren

An excerpt from In His Sights to go with Thursday's picture

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For a moment while we held each other, muscles still straining, hands still wandering, it felt intimate. That scared me more than anything this man could do to me with a gun. My body didn’t seem to give a fuck though. I was aroused again, or still, desperate for more.

Pulling his head back, Mayce gave me an arrogant all-over look. “You’re a hot fucking piece of tail.”

He planted another wild wet kiss on my lips, twisting fingers into my dreadlocked hair, holding me by my scalp. My hands chased down his chest to the warm wet spot on his camos.

Surrounded by our scent it was hard to focus, but I squeezed his testicles none too gently and said, “You’ll do, for a soldier.”

His laugh was breathless. His hands trailed down my body one last time before he separated from me. The air felt cool on my chest. I wondered if this was when he would kill me, or if he’d take me in for questioning. I could probably make a run for it. I should’ve thought of that while he was all sweet and horny and fucking against me.

His eyes shaded when his Data-Pak went off with a blaring sound, announcing a transmission. Tugging the handheld CO-communications device from his pocket, he cocked a finger at me. “Stay.”

Just to make sure, he leaned over to grab his gun, keeping it casually in his hand.

“Commander Cannon,” he spoke into the D-P. “No, sir.” Squinting at me, Mayce thrust my shirt into my hands.

So I’m to be detained and killed at a later date.

He holstered his weapon, rearranging his pants. I smirked when he swiped at the wet spot on the crotch. Listening to the D-P, he answered in a crisp voice, “Yes, sir. ASAP, I got it.”

The D-P pocketed, Mayce kept his gaze on me as he dressed with concise motions. The alarming sounds of the Revolution outside were drawing closer. Shots sounded, not too far from our little hole in the wall.

Mayce pondered me as he scratched across the smooth sexy skull-cut. He found my gun, my ammo, my blades, handing them to me one by one.

Finally he exhaled. “You better stay alive, Nomad.”

I nearly dropped my gear. “What?”

“You heard me.” His back stiffened before he took up a casual at-ease stance. “This isn’t advisable in any way what-so-fucking-ever, but I want to see you again. Same time, two days from now, here. If not here—if the place has been overrun or locked down—I’ll . . .” He tapped his boot on the floor and frowned. “I’ll locate you.”

Hell no, it wasn’t advisable. It was goddamn foolhardy, and I’d be a straight-up idiot to even consider a second run-in with Mayce, my enemy, just because he granted me mercy, then made me come so frigging hard I almost passed out.

“Is this a stay of execution?”

“Actually it was my first try at seduction.” He shot me a lopsided smile. “How’d I do?”

Shit. I tried not to grin. “Maybe don’t a shove a gun in my face next time?”

I turned to leave—knowing turning my back on this soldier was an asinine move—and he clasped my wrist. His breath traced along my neck. “You’ll come then? Next time?”

This was stupid. A death sentence. I couldn’t stop myself from responding. “I came the first time, didn’t I?”

His low chuckle followed me into the night.

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Can two enemies overcome the battles within and the war without to find love? Or will the Revolution destroy their chance at happiness?

At the outset of the revolution against the oppressive Company regime, Hawke is a freedom fighter on a mission. Infiltrate Alpha Territory, kick some Corps ass, and stay alive. His plans unravel when he’s captured by the enemy on his first sortie. Prepared for death by the soldier sworn to kill him, all his training couldn’t have prepared him for what happens next.

A corporal in the Company’s military branch, Mayce is a hard-liner intent on ridding his city of the insurgent threat. Yet one look at the gorgeous Freelander named Hawke and years of yearning and unrealized desires change his course permanently. If discovered, he’ll be branded a traitor and a homosexual—and sentenced to death.

Mayce and Hawke act on their intense and immediate attraction. But amid the escalating revolution their dangerous trysts come at the risk of their own lives, as Hawke soon finds out.

LINKS:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21534286-in-his-sights

http://www.riewarren.com/books/in-his-sights/

Rie Warren

Erotic Romance…Heat, heart, and a hint of the dark

Author of Sugar Daddy, the Don’t Tell series, and Carolina Bad Boys

www.riewarren.com

A Picture is Worth...

Mmmm..... Rie Warren sent this picture in. Scuse me while I stare a while. Stay tuned for a hot little section from her new book, In His Sights, to go with that stubbly kiss.

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